Imagine you're on a European trade mission being told by a
prominent entrepreneur how to successfully conduct business in his
country. Despite the fact that there are five women in the room, he
addresses the men only, constantly saying things like "your
wife," and "when your kids spend time with their
mothers."

This is exactly what Lynn O'Brien Hallstein, an assistant
professor of communications at Babson College in Babson Park,
Massachusetts, experienced during trade trips to Central Europe and
Latin America. She also reviewed a variety of literature on gender
issues in international business; her research, she says, revealed
gender "was both a hindrance and an asset."

O'Brien Hallstein found that women in business face certain
predictable issues--being treated as if they're invisible,
encountering stereotypical views of women's capabilities, being
looked at as some sort of a phenomenon, and even being considered
so unusual, they're treated as a "third sex."

While you might initially consider these to be problems,
O'Brien Hallstein says it's not quite that simple. "In
Latin America, there's the whole issue of machismo culture. On
the other hand, there seems to be an odd respect for women [in
business] that can benefit you. [Latin Americans'] real
appreciation of femininity gives women some room to
negotiate." In fact, she adds, due to the attention they
receive, women can sometimes gain access to certain areas or people
their male colleagues can't.

O'Brien Hallstein has developed a number of strategies for
women to use when doing business overseas:

Research attitudes toward women in a particular country before
you go but don't automatically assume you'll be treated
that way.

Connect with American women already in the location where you
want to conduct business. They can give you further insight and may
even be able to provide introductions to men or women willing to
open doors for you.

Choose your battles. Decide which behavior will get you the
contract: confrontation, removing yourself from the situation or
exploiting the sexist behavior.

Out-Of-Water Experience

One entrepreneur expected customers from paternalistic
countries to judge her. What she experienced surprised her.

Being a woman in the international lobster wholesale business
hasn't been a hindrance to Stephanie Nadeau, even though the
stereotypically male-dominated countries of Japan and Korea are two
of her largest overseas outlets. In fact, she says among the people
she's dealing with, "being female seems to be an
advantage. I've been able to talk to people I need to get on
the phone. I think it's because [being a woman] is unusual in
this business, which is 99.9 percent male."

While her partner, Michael Marceau, heads operations at
Kennebunkport, Maine-based The Lobster Company, Nadeau handles all
sales, both foreign and domestic. When she began, she wasn't
sure whether she'd encounter gender discrimination, but now
reports having better relations with Asian customers than with some
U.S. customers who still don't seem to trust women in
business.

The bottom line, according to Nadeau, 34: If you can walk the
walk and talk the talk, you've got the business, no matter
where you are.

Web Site

Designed for women in business, this site offers plenty of
freebies: marketing tips, an e-mail newsletter, a Web-site
critique, links to marketing-related e-zines and even a comedy page
("Humor in Stockings"). There's also an option to
join a networking e-mail list, where members offer advice, ask
questions and provide support to one another (it's a busy list,
with upwards of 50 e-mails daily). The site is well done and the
resources are rich--it's worth a look.